Page 31 of Bound By Darkness

I’m as shocked as he is, and I gape in amazement as a scowl spreads across his lips. His cheek is already taking on a bright red hue where I’ve hit him. I squeak out a protest as he curls hishand around my neck and thrusts me against the rough bark of a tree. I knock my head against it, but the pain doesn’t register. All I can focus on is the expression in Dragan’s eyes. He’s angry, yes, but there’s something more.

“Dra… Dragan,” I whisper as my own eyes grow wide with fear. I don’t know what he’s going to do. I’ve just smacked him with everything I have… Granted, it’s not as though I’ve hurt him, but his cheek grows redder the longer I look at it.

I’ve never done anything even remotely violent and I have to wonder if he’ll think this is my Succubus side coming out?

He continues to pin me against the tree, staring at me.

“I… I’m sorry,” I whisper.

His eyes shift to my lips. I swallow hard.

And then, before I can understand what’s happening, he brings his face so close to mine, our noses are nearly touching.

“Don’t you ever… fucking hit me again,” he orders.

“I… don’t know why… I did,” I tell him. He doesn’t pull back. Instead, his eyes return to my mouth and rest there, on my lips. “Please…” I whisper.

“Please what?” he demands, lifting his gaze to glare at me.

“You’re… you’re scaring me.”

He chuckles then and it’s an acid sound. “I’m scaring you?” he says as he pulls away, keeping me pinned to the tree with his hand around my throat. “I’m scaring the fucking demon Succubus?”

“Y… yes,” I admit, because I’m not sure what else to say.

Then he’s in my face again. “If you think this little innocent act of yours—”

“It’s not an act,” I interject as I reach out and try to loosen his fingers from around my throat. He only tightens his hold and I find it hard to breathe. “Please…”

“Please what, angel?” he asks. “Please release you? Please let you go? Please let you continue to try to seduce us with yourfucking perfect face?” He glances down at my breasts, then lower still. “And your fucking perfect body?”

I try to shake my head, but it’s difficult with the way he has my neck pinned. I can feel his breath on my cheeks. My heart is racing but something else is happening, too. Maybe it’s his closeness, but I can feel a deep sting starting in my abdomen. A yearning, a need begins to blossom, arching out through my body.

I want him. And I hate myself for wanting him.

“I’m… not trying to hurt… any of you,” I argue as I struggle against him.

“It’s too fucking late,” he snarls back at me. I feel my stomach drop as I realize what he’s just admitted.

I’ve hurt him.

“I’m the same person I always was, Dragan,” I start, but he cuts me off by tightening his fingers around my throat.

“You’renotthe same person,” he interrupts, and then yanks me away from the tree before forcing me down to the ground. He pins me there as he climbs on top of me.

“I’ll… I’ll go back with you,” I promise.

“You’ll do whatever the fuck I tell you to,” he corrects me as he releases his fingers from my neck. I take a deep breath, which pushes my breasts forward, and he immediately notices them.

“Damn you,” he says.

I’m…” I begin but my words are cut short as he runs his hands through his hair and looks like he’s braving his own fight—the internal type.

“Dragan…” I say his name on a breath, because I can’t fight the way his gaze makes me feel.

“Don’t,” he replies, and I feel sadness overcome me. He thinks I’m some horrible creature, that I’m deplorable and wicked. But, I’m not. Even though I might have this side to me,I’m still the same Eilish I was before any of us learned what I truly am.

At least, I think I am.

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